King of Hollywood

"This is a movie full of hope, just like the sentence on the poster: timidity puts you in prison, hope helps you get free. The movie opens with the banker Ann played by Tim Robbins. Di Dangling was imprisoned on charges of murdering his wife and her lover. The various debates of the judiciary made us tend to think that he had done this, but the various performances after being imprisoned made people doubt that he was innocent. There was no answer for a long time.

However, some clues can be seen from many places. When Reed, played by Morgan Freeman, leads the prisoners of Shawshank Prison to drink cool beer on the roof, the first theme of the movie is highlighted. , This is also what we have been pursuing tirelessly for a long time-freedom.

In this way, Andy gradually changed and influenced the views of those around him. When the prison radio broadcasted "The Marriage of Figaro", and when all the prisoners on the playground listened silently, with Rhett's narration , we see another theme - hope.

What he did was not meaningless, as can be seen from Reed's three parole hearings. The first time, he tried to muddle through; Deep in my heart I have understood many things. So, he got parole. The third theme of the movie is thus expressed - redemption.

Now we should know that Andy is innocent, otherwise he would not have kept his little hope and his hope of freedom in this dark prison. In fact, after two-thirds of the plot of the film has passed, through the mouth of a young man who was imprisoned for theft, the truth about Andy's killing of his wife and her lover was finally revealed. However, relying on Andy to launder money, Warden Norton refused to let him go, and eventually killed the jailed youth.

Therefore, Andy escaped through the passage dug by the small stone hammer bought by Rhett, waded through the dirty river, washed away his sins, and was reborn on the other side! The warden paid the price, and Reid, who was redeemed and successfully released on parole, reunited with Andy in Mexico.

Both Tim and Morgan showed superb acting skills, Andy's calmness and wisdom, Rhett's numbness and helplessness, and the final confession, all were brilliantly displayed in their expressions and body language.

Of course, as a director, Adrian also contributed a lot. This talented director who produced two low-cost high-grossing films within a year and was successful at European film festivals showed superb skills, moving the audience's emotional ups and downs. The control is just right, I believe everyone can't help applauding Andy when he sees Andy crawling through the sewer to escape and looking up at the sky in the rain. In addition, he has set countless details in the movie, which makes the whole movie more memorable. I have to admit that he is very good at telling stories. Regardless, this is a movie worth watching. "

—Wayne Jackson, The Washington Post

This is a representative film review of "The Shawshank Redemption" in the next day's newspaper. Unlike Adrian's memory, most film critics praised the film.

This is of course due to Laverne and Universal's publicity credits, and it is not unrelated to Adrian's amazing performance. He is the first director to produce two low-budget high-grossing films within a year, and his personal style is strong and varied at the same time. , from "Two Smoking Barrels" to "Memento" and now "The Shawshank Redemption", the three films have three different styles, there are similarities but more differences, which is really surprising up.

Of course, the quality of "The Shawshank Redemption" itself is excellent, otherwise, no matter how amazing the director's resume and no matter how clever the means of publicity, such a result would not have been obtained. However, there must be praise and criticism, and don't forget what those people said when he declared that this was a "nearly perfect movie".

"The Shawshank Redemption is mediocre, Tim Robbins is more of a saint than a prisoner in prison, and a nagging Morgan Freeman keeps torturing the audience's ears with voice-overs - oh , please, can you say a few words less?

Apart from the cunning of the warden and the perversion of some prisoners, the rest is lackluster. Of course, as the most important three scenes, earning beer on the roof, playing music in private, and finally escaping are still interesting, but the loose plot makes it easy for people to fall asleep before seeing these.

Obviously, the director tried to express many things in it, such as hope, freedom, redemption, institutionalization, etc. Unfortunately, the more things expressed, the easier it is to express badly. Many directors have stumbled on this, and Adrian is no exception, completely wasting Tim and Morgan's acting skills and Stephen King's novel. Adrian is still too young, I think it would be better for him to continue to make some more cult movies. "

—Clancy Pope, Los Angeles Times

This film review can also be regarded as the most representative of the critical articles. Their main attack points are in three places: deviation in characterization, relatively loose rhythm, and too much to express.

It seems that the criticism seems to be very pertinent, but in the eyes of many people, these criticisms are untenable, and they all think that this is a bit of deliberate criticism. In fact, it’s not the fault of those film critics who treat movies with a serious attitude, it’s mainly because some guys who write whatever they want to attract attention like to follow the trend, and it’s inevitable that they will swear or criticize too much. Addictive, so Adrian has more sympathizers.

Generally speaking, there are still a lot of positive reviews. Although the advantages are not obvious, it is enough to attract people to enter the theater, and don't forget that there are sympathy points. It's just that the box office in the first weekend in North America was not very satisfying. It was only about 23 million. You must know that Universal contacted almost 2,000 movie theaters for "The Shawshank Redemption". Although I don't expect to get a box office of 60 million in the first week like "Terminator 2", the figure of about 23 million is really worrying.

But with the passage of time, this worry gradually dissipated. After Halloween, it entered November, and the box office in the second week actually got 27 million! Most of the movie fans expressed their praise after watching the movie in the cinema, and through the word of mouth of these fans, many people were driven into the theater. Therefore, the box office of the second week was higher than that of the first week.

As a result, the total box office in North America is almost over 50 million, and the cost has basically been kept. If this momentum continues in the future, and with the blessing of Adrian's previous two films, the overseas distribution rights of "The Shawshank Redemption" have been sold early, and Universal will definitely make another fortune while recovering its investment. .

So, in mid-November, Universal threw a modest celebration dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills for The Shawshank Redemption's stellar performance.

(Well, finally, the first chapter pit will be buried tomorrow, get your tickets, everyone)